In another post on something that just happens to be in one’s backyard, here is a mature coconut and how to strip it of its outer layer… On previous trips to Europe, I have always been amused then flabbergasted by coconuts such as these for sale in the chi-chi-est of food stores at outrageous prices. I saw some once at the fruit section of Fauchon in Paris for a whopping 6 Euro or nearly PHP500 a piece! Proudly sourced from somewhere in Africa, I think. Then last year I saw slices of mature coconut for sale from a street cart in Athens, for about 1 Euro for an eighth or a tenth of one coconut! Yikes, they might as well eat their Hawaiian Tropic sunscreen, it would be significantly cheaper! And closer to home, I suspect many folks just rely on canned coconut cream for convenience, or buy grated coconut at the market if they want to squeeze their own milk/cream. Not too many folks are still going to be venturing out to the backyard, seeking out a mature and nearly totally dried up coconut, and making their own grated coconut…
When we were much younger, we used to grate our own coconuts on a kudkuran or grater, which you had to sit on to steady and you leaned over slightly to apply force while scraping the half coconut sans coconut water on the sharp edges of the grater. I used to play with the kudkuran when there was nothing else to do and I was being my pesty self, while others needed to finish grating the coconuts, and once gave myself a nasty scrape on my hands when not paying full attention. I never went near a kudkuran again. The electric powered machines that are now frequently used in local markets are far faster and more efficient, but they lack the languid and “real” feel of a manual grater…
At any rate, the brown coconut, which has often already fallen to the ground, is lightly scored with a bolo (machete) and sections peeled off to reveal the hairy nut within. Bash this nut with the bolo in just the right manner and you end up with two half pieces that can readily be grated. If you want to make your own coconut milk/cream, you might want to read this post I did eons ago. And if you live in a far off Western land and are wondering how much these might cost in our neck of the woods, it’s probably FREE or at most $0.10 at the source… Heeheehee. I suppose it is the same pricing disconnect that someone from a strawberry field in California would express when they found out that some Driscoll strawberries in Manila sell for upwards of $1.50 per piece! :( So eat more of the stuff that grows in your backyard… :)
http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/mature-coconut
